Bellator 144 Results: New Bellator Middleweight Champion Crowned

23, Bellator MMA will host its 144th event from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

The event featured Rafael Carvalho becoming the new middleweight champion with a second round TKO victory over Brandon Halsey.

The live stream of the preliminary card will begin at approximately 6:45 p.m. ET and the main card launches on Spike TV at 9:00 p.m. ET. Check out this week’s MMA Vivisection for info and analysis on the card. They work to the middle and Halsey looks for the arm triangle choke.

Carvalho toughed it out and escaped, but still continued to be controlled by Halsey’s pressure until landing his only clear strike of the night: a magnificent kick to the liver that instantly downed the wrestler.

Carvalho scoots his back to the fence and uses an underhook to stand up. Halsey changes levels and hits a double. Halsey will be a step up for Carvalho, and the question for this fight will be whether he’s ready for the challenge.

Round 1 – Halsey goes right for the takedown and traps Carvalho up against the fence. Carvalho lands a short knee and shoves Halsey away.

The main event features a battle for the vacant middleweight championship. From there the 28-year-old transitioned to Ontiveros’ back, then settled into side control after a scramble, unloading a series of nasty elbows that injured Ontiveros and forced a quick stoppage at just 3:20 of the opening round. Ward kept his composure and got back to his feet where he dropped and finished Olson to win the fight in the first round. Ward mounts and unleashes the ground and pound. Ward pounces with punches to seal it. Kobayashi catches a Yamauchi front kick and takes him down. Kobayashi lands on top.

Isao Kobayashi (18-2-4) and Goiti Yamauchi (19-2) met in a flyweight bout. Yamauchi switches to the Gable grip rear-naked choke, then back to traditional. Kobayashi escapes back to his feet but immediately eats a pair of up-kicks.

R2: Yamauchi peels off a hook/cross combo. Yamauchi threatened with chokes, advanced positions, and spent the majority of the round on Kobayashi’s back. He sliced opened a wide cut above Kobayashi’s right brow with a salvo of second-round elbows, then signaled the beginning of the end by dropping Kobayashi with a ferocious left hand early in the third. Though he is coming off a win, he is basically a. 500 fighter after winning his first three pro fights in a row, and that puts Michael Page at a higher level overall.

Yamauchi, a 22-year-old jiu-jitsu black belt fighting out of Brazil, threw everything but the kitchen sink at Kobayashi, forcing the veteran to fight off an array of leglocks, kimuras, and chokes in an impressive showing of grappling control. Yamauchi looks for a kimura, but Kobayashi manages to roll out of it. Yamauchi moves into half guard. Back mount with a body triangle for Yamauchi.